Hearts savour the sheer joy of survival

PAUL FORSYTH AT TYNECASTLE

RELEGATION is supposed to demoralise clubs, especially when they have several league matches still to complete, but nothing about this season is normal for Hearts. In a perverse, final twist to a campaign that has defied all logic, the demoted Edinburgh side are positively romping to the finish.

Hearts 2-0 Ross County

Two weeks after they were consigned to the drop, they seem to be in buoyant mood. Not only have they been spared the prospect of liquidation, they are at last finding form, with ten points from a possible 12, as well as enough momentum to suggest that they can be a force in next season’s Championship.

That, of course, will depend on who is still at Tynecastle, but Gary Locke, their manager, is certainly making his case to prospective chairwoman, Ann Budge, who said at the weekend that she planned to have talks with the management team so that, when she assumes control, she will hit the ground running.

Apart from the Jamie Hamill-inspired ruckus that followed their opening goal, Saturday’s display was one that Locke could be proud of. The 2-0 victory entitled him to repeat his recent mantra that the team is improving. But for the club’s self-inflicted 15-point penalty with which they started the season, only goal difference would separate them from second-bottom Ross County. They are now a better side than the league table suggests. Their long-awaited progress is no mystery. All the young players are eight months older than they were at the start of the season, a significant leap when you are still in your teenage years. They are also adjusting at last to the rigours of top-flight football, as Sam Nicholson, their 19-year-old midfielder, acknowledges.

“It’s taken a long time for a lot of the players to improve,” said Nicholson. “It’s taken a long time to get used to this sort of standard, but once we’ve reached those standards, we are all working for each other and beginning to get results. It is a hard league, really physical. I’m still getting used to it. I’m still getting knocked off the ball.”

Nicholson and Billy King were bright performers against Ross County, as was Dale Carrick, who ran his heart out on a warm Edinburgh afternoon. His goal in stoppage time, neatly controlled and converted after Scott Robinson’s counter-attack, sealed the outcome of a match that had remained goalless for over an hour.

Despite County’s need for points, it was a curiously pedestrian affair until the 66th minute, when a goal, a ridiculous trackside melee and a red card for Hamill ignited proceedings. When Graham Carey brought down Kevin McHattie in the box, Hamill converted the penalty before needlessly making off with the ball. Yann Songo’o wanted it back, but Hamill refused, eventually obliging with a backhand throw in the wrong direction.

All of which caused quite a stir on the touchline. As Hamill returned to his own half, he knocked Derek Adams, the Ross County manager, clean off his feet, prompting another flurry of indignation. Songo’o again got involved, as did Willie Collum, the referee, who issued Hamill with his second yellow card. Songo’o also was booked.

If, as expected, Hamill is suspended for the Edinburgh derby on Sunday, he will have only himself to blame. The 27-year-old defender showed much less maturity than his baby-faced team-mates whose aim will be to extend their four-match unbeaten run when they visit Easter Road.

Three weeks ago, Hibs fans went to Tynecastle intent on relegating their city rivals. Now, it is Terry Butcher’s side who could be dragged into the mire by their oldest enemies. Just three points clear of Ross County – who occupy the relegation play-off spot – a defeat by Hearts scarcely bears thinking about.

Nicholson does his best to pretend that Hearts are focusing only on themselves, but he is fooling no-one. “We’re not going out to intentionally hurt them, we’re going out to win the game,” he said. “We’re not thinking about trying to relegate them, we’re thinking ‘let’s go and win another few points’...but it would obviously be good if we brought them down with us.”

Defeat for Hibs would also do County a much-needed favour. Adams’ side are at home to Kilmarnock on Saturday, anxious to improve on their sequence of just one win in seven outings. They competed for an hour of Saturday’s match, but even when their opponents were reduced to ten men, they lacked an edge in the final third.

Adams admitted that, despite having more to play for than Hearts, they could not match their opponents’ energy and commitment. “We have to do better than we did in the second half,” he said. “We didn’t play with the tempo Hearts did. The enthusiasm of their young kids has been remarkable throughout the season. We didn’t have the enthusiasm Hearts did, and that’s disappointing.”

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

The Scotsman provides news, events and sport features from the Edinburgh area. For the best up to date information relating to Edinburgh and the surrounding areas visit us at The Scotsman regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website The Scotsman requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.